Photo Hiking Journal

Frazier Park C-119C N13742 Tanker 88 7/7/13

On July 7, 1981, Tanker #88 the Fairchild C-119C N13742 was on a fire fighting mission in the Los Padres National Forest near Frazier Park, California. As the airtanker approached the drop area, a witness saw that it was coming in lower and traveling at a higher speed than he had observed on the previous drops. The airtanker flew past the intended drop site then the left outer wing section flexed downward and snapped off. The airtanker began to roll left as it's nose began to drop impacting a steep slope totally destroying the aircraft. Pilot Louis Remschner, 52, of Phoenix, AZ and co-pilot Ted Sveum, 25, of Crescent City, CA did not survive. The airtanker was operated by the Hemet Valley Flying Service under contract with the USFS.

The investigation by the NTSB and Forest Service teams found that the probable cause was a failure of a part in the aileron control linkage led to aileron flutter that overstressed the airframe. All C-119s under contract in this Region were grounded for airworthiness inspections. Out of the three C-119s inspected, a total of fourteen parts in the aileron control systems were found to have cracks. An Airworthiness Directive was issued by the FAA of possible wing failure due to loads induced by a free aileron on the C-119s.

Driving down a steep narrow road into the area where I hoped the crash site was located. Was able to figure out the location from clues in newspaper articles and a report from the USFS.

On the hike, searching for the crash site. The slope was steep and loose with the temperature in the low 90s. After about an hour of searching, I was starting to doubt that I was looking in the right area.

First piece of wreckage. Found this after giving up and heading back down to the truck. I was searching higher up on the slope, turns out that the C-119 crashed near the bottom of the slope.

After finding the first piece, starting finding a lot of wreckage scattered in the area.

Looks like a part from a fuel tank.

When I first saw this two foot long rusty steel piece with a hinge on it, didn't know what it was.

Taking a look at the tag, would see that it was a Craftsman tool box that must have been on the airplane.

Small group of pieces. The pieces I'm finding are widely scattered, hoping they lead me to the main crash site.

Closer view of one pieces, this one has fabric attached to it.

Moving along still finding scattered pieces, this one is about two feet long and has a light socket on it.

Looks like a light weight tie down.

Some fabric with straps tied at the top. This might be from the interior liner, but the ones I've seen in C-119 photos have a diamond pattern on them.

Piece of a rib from one of the control surfaces, it still has some silver painted fabric covering on it.

The black paint on this crushed piece indicates it's probably from one of the engine nacelles.

Piece of one of the firewalls with part of the engine mount attached.

No idea what the two parts attached to this piece are.

Closer view of the parts. A Fairchild inspection stamp can be seen, the FAD stands for Fairchild Aircraft Division.

Piece with a part number.

Close up of the part number and stamps. The 110 part number prefix confirms that the wreckage is from a C-119. I was pretty sure that it was the plane I was looking for by the location and the orange and black paint on some of the pieces, but it's nice to confirm it.

A piece of a stringer.

Remains of a three ring binder.

This orange piece is about thirty inches long and has wood attached to it.

The other side of the same piece.

A mount for either a couple of engine or flight instruments.

Another piece with black paint.

This piece has slots that look like they might be air vents.

The other side has a tube to attach a hose.

This piece has parts of letters or numbers on it, but couldn't make them out.

After about an hour of hiking around and checking out the pieces I was finding, I came to the area that looks like the place the main wreckage came to rest. No large pieces remain, but there's hundreds of smaller ones.

A lot of the pieces slid down the steep slope and collected up against a fallen tree.

More of the pieces against the fallen tree.

Wire harness.

Close up of the wire harness.

An electrical connector.

Switch

Looks like a part from one of the engines.

I thought that this might be from the landing gear, but wasn't able to match it to any C-119 photos. The tubes are about two inches in diameter and heavy.

Another group of pieces.

A hose fitting with a big fly.

Guessing that this might be a check valve. By the size of the tubing, looks like it's from the fuel system.

This looks like a torque tube from one of the control surfaces.

Maybe a piece from one of the engines.

This is one of the many cargo tie downs that would have been mounted on the floor.

This looks like part of a butterfly valve from a carburetor.

This piece of wreckage was compressed tightly from the force of the impact.